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Saturday, November 5, 2016

Nordica to end Adria partnership

Estonia's national carrier Nordica will terminate its partnership with Adria Airways on November 19. The airline has been utilising its Slovenian counterpart's Air Operator's Certificate, commercial platform, ticketing system, staff and flight codes since it was set up by the government a year ago following the demise of Estonian Air. Nordica's cooperation agreement with Adria was signed for a term of one year with the option of being renewed for another year. The Slovenian carrier recently said it was looking to strengthen and deepen its alliance with Nordica. The relationship was expected to last until at least the end of 2017. Instead, the Estonian airline has opted to ink a similar deal with LOT Polish Airlines.

Commenting on its decision, Nordica's CEO, Jaan Tamm, said, "The set up and launch of Nordica as a company was completed this fall and we decided not to make use of extending our agreement. I would like to thank the management of Adria Airways for the good cooperation. It was largely due to them that we became fully operational in such a short time". He added, "All scheduled flights will take place and there are no changes to flight schedules. Our cooperation with Adria Airways in its current format will continue for the next two weeks and all air tickets will remain valid". Nordica tickets can be purchased through Adria's website. The Slovenian carrier initially provided necessary staff and cabin crew to its Estonian counterpart. Later on, Estonian personnel were trained in Ljubljana.

It has never been disclosed how much of a financial incentive Adria received for its partnership with Nordica, which was negotiated by the carrier while it was still in state hands. In its 2015 financial report, the airline's new owners, 4K Invest, hailed the tie-up stating that "good foundations have been laid in 2015 with new opportunities in the Estonian market". The deal was almost certain to be extended until the end of 2017 and it is unclear why there has been an abrupt ending to the cooperation. Jan Palmer, who advises 4K Invest, urged the Estonian government to ink a commercial alliance with Adria. Mr Palmer is also an advisor to Nordica.

OT - given all of the recent discussion regarding OU's LHR flights, I'm currently sitting on JU's BEG-LHR waiting to take off and it is 100% full! 128/128 seats.... and, I noticed the CEO sitting in economy class - even busines class is full!

How can JU make this route work, given the fact that Serbs need a visa for the UK, while OU can't ? It doesn't make sense at all ....

I think they are looking for any and all means of monetising whatever assets they have - prime LHR slots being a crown jewel which they can sell. This obviously means that they are in deep shit financially and have cash problems and debts to pay. Their prospects don't look good, especially since the govt can't fund them any more due to state aid issues.

This sale of slots only buys them time, but i fear the end is near. Only way to ensure that they survive, is if they can find someone to invest in them....

Very sad indeed... their mgt and Ministry have a lot to answer for. A perfect example of why govt's should not own airlines.

4K Invest:"good foundations have been laid in 2015 with new opportunities in the Estonian market". They really have absolutely no idea what they are doing. None whatsoever. New opportunities? Have they based an aircraft in Estonia or even started flying there?

So far, Adria's loss is amounting to approx. 2 million EUR. These hotshot Germans thought they'll end up the year with a profit. Now, all of a sudden the biggest problem are pilot's salaries. It's going to be a repeat of Winter 2015 all over again.

LOT might eventually become part owner of small airlines or even replace them all and become the airline of the Baltic states. Kind of regional dominance Air Serbia is positioned to deliver in ex yu zone.

In their press release they say LOT would be interested to implement similar model to cooperate with other carriers from CEE. I wouldnt be surprise if they start to cooperate with Adria or Croatia who could become their partner in the Balkans as Nordica in Scandinavia and Baltic States.

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Source: Emirates